Alastair Kellock: Life goes on and it’s time to cheer for Scots again

IT MIGHT only be a few days since we returned home, but it has been enough to move on from the Rugby World Cup, switch the focus to Glasgow and the positive challenges of the season ahead.

Because we suffered disappointment on such a big stage people fear it will take longer than usual to deal with, but the truth is that you cannot allow it to. As difficult as the past fortnight has been, I have never lost sight of the fact that we were very fortunate to be handed the opportunity to represent our country in a World Cup.

As well as watching the quarter-finals this weekend, probably with a strong sense of “that could/should have been us”, I’ll also be watching the Scotland football team trying their best to keep alive hopes of going to the European Championship.

As hard as it might be for us coming home earlier than we wanted from the World Cup, few guys of my generation know what it is like to experience playing for Scotland in a major football tournament.

I remember the last time we were there, in 1998, at the World Cup in France. I was in my last year at school and you never thought for a minute that we would have to wait 14 years or more to see Scotland in finals again. It’s going to be tough to reach the Euro Championship, but it is not impossible. After Spain beat the Czech Republic last night, we now need a win against Liechtenstein today to go to Spain at least with hope still alive.

For all that the painful memories of how we failed to close out the games with Argentina and England will haunt me, the important thing for all the players coming home from New Zealand is that we remember the good that we did there, too. We remember the effort that was put in to get us into the position to claim victory against the Pumas and England, the way we dug it out against Romania, shut down Georgia, outplayed the Pumas and England, two sides ranked above us in the world, for long periods.

Nobody can feel worse than the players do at being knocked out, because everything was within our control, our grasp, and we were responsible for letting it fall through the fingers. No-one else. We have to live with that.

I know there are a lot of people very disappointed that Scotland are not in this weekend’s quarter-finals, and I quite understand people being disappointed. Everybody has the right to be disappointed because we had the ability to be there and as a guest on John Beattie’s BBC Scotland radio show this morning I expect to hear some supporters letting me know how they feel. But, as players, we are really only starting the season now, so it is vital that we let it go, and do not allow the disappointment to drag us down.

Yes, we know what we have to work on, finishing, moves and games, and that is the focus looking ahead, but no-one can mope about feeling sorry for themselves because that would be letting down the teams we’re coming back to. I was back in to see the boys and coaches at Glasgow on Tuesday, having got back on Monday afternoon, because I can’t wait to get started.

And it was great to feel the positive vibe from the weekend, the confidence of the boys from beating a very strong Cardiff team in Cardiff, and hearing of how Mike Cusack has been going well, Ryan Grant, too, and the pack working well in the scrum and lineout. I think the backs have been doing alright too, but it’s always the forward stuff that I worry about!

These boys are not about to take a back seat now that the Scotland squad is home so any player returning who wants some sympathy or an easy walk back in should think again. No way.

There are boys here who desperately wanted the opportunity we were given, quality players like Johnnie Beattie, Ryan and Rob Harley at Glasgow, and Ben Cairns, Greig Laidlaw and David Denton, to name just a few at Edinburgh, and I know how they felt, because that was me at the last World Cup. But they have got over that, got back to playing and leading, and doing it well.

For the boys coming back it is about understanding that we enjoyed a special experience and taking on the responsibility that comes with it: learning from it, toughening up and improving the competition at our clubs, and helping to drive the run of victories that we need on a more consistent basis for ourselves as players and Scottish rugby as a whole.

I have hardly played any rugby in the past six months – one warm-up game and two games in the World Cup – so while it has taken a few days to feel normal again after the long-haul flight I can’t wait to get back into training at Glasgow next week.

For this weekend, though, I can put Ashley and my daughter, Kate, first again. Seeing them after six weeks away has made this week pass quickly. It’s amazing how children grow in a short space of time and I’m sure Kate was not questioning everything she is asked to do quite as vociferously when I left.

It was great to see them at the airport and Kate is delighted to have appeared on the news and on the back page of The Scotsman. She has made it at two-and-a-half – it took me more than 20 years!

But there is another down-side to being home early – we have no kitchen yet. It was due to be finished next week, so we’ll be living with a shell for a few more days. I ain’t a joiner.

And Mr Kellock will actually be at Eden Park tomorrow for the quarter-final, my dad that is, and my mum too, as I got them tickets and they stayed on to see what will be a terrific occasion. But I am glad to be home. Once we were out I didn’t want to hang around.

It was a massive honour to captain Scotland at a World Cup and the experience will never leave me. Now, we owe it to ourselves, our clubs and the Scottish game to learn from it and drive forward with new confidence, experience and desire to win.